Until now, the links between rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the risk of site-specific cancers, which are not lymphohematopoietic cancers, have hardly been examined. In a study whose findings were published in the journal ‘Arthritis Research & Therapy’, the researchers conducted a Mendelian randomization on the association between RA and site-specific cancer among populations from Europe and East Asia.
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In the study, independent genetic variants strongly associated with RA among European and East Asian populations were selected as instrumental variables from genome-wide association studies on 58,284 European participants (14,361 cases and 43,923 controls), and 22,515 East Asian participants (4,873 cases and 17,642 reviews), respectively. The researchers used the UK Biobank studyJ(n=367,561), ב-FinnGen studyJ(n=260,405), ב-Biobank JapanJ(n=212,453) and in international consortia in order to test the connections between genetic variants and cancer in general and 22 site-specific cancers. The associations for one outcome from the different data sources were combined by meta-analysis.
Among the European population, the combined odds ratios for each one-unit increase in the log odds of genetic liability for RA were 1.06 (95% confidence interval 1.03-1.10) for head and neck cancer, 1.06 (95% confidence interval 1.02-1.10) for cervical cancer, 0.92 (95% CI 0.87-0.96) for testicular cancer, and 0.94 (95% CI 0.90-0.98) for multiple myeloma. In the East Asian population, the corresponding odds ratios were 1.17 (95% CI 1.06-1.29) for pancreatic cancer, 0.91 (95% CI 0.88-0.94) for breast cancer and 0.90 (95% CI 0.84-0.96) for ovarian cancer. Also, suggestive relationships were found with breast and ovarian cancer and cancer in general in the European population. No other relationships were observed.
The researchers conclude that based on the Mendelian randomization they conducted on European and East Asian populations, RA may play a role in the development of several site-specific cancers.
source:
Yuan, S., Chen, J., Ruan, X. et al. Rheumatoid arthritis and risk of site-specific cancers: Mendelian randomization study in European and East Asian populations. Arthritis Res Ther 24, 270 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13075-022-02970-z